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Bernie Sanders to Stump for Congressional Candidates Mike Levin and Ammar Campa-Najjar in San Diego

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Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will visit San Diego to speak on behalf of congressional Democratic candidates Mike Levin and Ammar Campa-Najjar later this month as part of a nine-day nationwide pre-midterm blitz.

Rallies and events for the Sanders tour, which begins October 19, will include support for candidates in Indiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California.

Details of his appearances have yet to be announced, although it seems probable–based on news reports about the itinerary–Sanders’ local events will occur just prior to his final stop in Oakland on October 27.   [Read more…]

Donna Frye Makes the Case for Vivian Moreno as D8 Councilmember

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By Donna Frye

Last week I officially endorsed Vivian Moreno to serve as the next Council District 8 City Councilmember. Vivian is someone who has strong core beliefs and values that will not change based on politics. She is honest and straightforward- she tells it like it is and I appreciate that.

Vivian and I agree about what it takes to be a public servant. It means listening to others with an open mind, understanding what people are saying about their positions on issues and the reasons people believe as they do and working hard to find equitable and reasonable solutions. Vivian was active in serving her community long before she ever thought about running for office. Her passion to serve is a result of her upbringing and strong family ties. Vivian is a lifelong resident of South San Diego and knows firsthand the challenges facing the community.   [Read more…]

Can Women’s Anger Save America? | Video Worth Watching

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From the Atlantic website:

In America today, women are angry. But this isn’t a modern phenomenon, argues the author Rebecca Traister. In her new book, “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger,” Traister details how female rage has long been the country’s political fuel. She expounded on this idea at Aspen Ideas Festival in June, where, in a video interview, she discussed how the fury of American women—from the suffragists to the abolitionists to Rosa Parks—has catalyzed major political movements.

[h/t to AGD]   [Read more…]

San Diego Progressive Voter Guide, November 2018

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A few words about our process are in order. The San Diego Free Press is an all-volunteer group which has been publishing daily since June 4, 2012. A commitment to activism and progressive politics is what drives our dedication to this project. We’ve been researching the candidates and causes on the general election ballot for the past 18 months.  You can see the various articles we’ve published at our archive of 2018 election coverage.

The editorial board includes Brent Beltrán, Anna Daniels, Frank Gormlie, Patty Jones, Rich Kacmar, Annie Lane, and Doug Porter. We met on September 24 to vote on endorsements, starting out by acknowledging that the country is in dire straights these days. We feel this election is about triaging the damage already done as much as it is about building a better future. 

Another factor differentiating this year’s evaluations was something I’ll call the Kavanaugh caveat. In situations where all things were close to equal from a policy perspective, we defaulted to the women running for office.   [Read more…]

It’s a Scary Time for Boys? | Video Worth Watching

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Is it really a scary time for young men and boys? [h/t to Annie L.]   [Read more…]

Do You Know Who Doesn’t Want You To Vote? | More Video Worth Watching

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Does taunting work? Knock the Vote intends to find out. Here’s a PSA produced for the campaign by the Acronym group. It slams Millennials for just about all of the negative stereotypes out there. Will it motivate its audience to prove the stereotypes wrong by showing up at the polls on November 6th? I guess we’ll find out in 29 days.   [Read more…]

We Need to Talk About Masculinity

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By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

When we discuss sexual assault, we often talk about women. What should women do to stay safe?

When I was in school, girls were even trained in women’s self-defense. I don’t know what the boys did during those time periods. Study hall?

Ask any woman what she does to prevent sexual assault and she’ll have an answer. She uses the buddy system when walking at night, or she carries pepper spray, or she doesn’t leave her drink unattended when she’s out, and so on.   [Read more…]

Presumed Innocent … But Locked in Cages Nonetheless | Video Worth Watching

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I’m guessing that when Chris Hayes saw the coverage of Trump’s recent rally in Mississippi, some button got pushed. This is the rally where Trump lamented the disregard for the principle of “Innocent until proven guilty” (particularly as it related to his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh) and yet the crowd later repeatedly chanted “Lock her up” referring to Hilary Clinton’s unsubstantiated misdeeds! Irony is indeed dead.

The more galling aspect of this situation for Chris, though, is the disparity in the treatment of accused citizens—between the privileged few (such as Trump and Kavanaugh) and the rest of us, as evidenced by the treatment of Kalief Browder, the teen arrested in 2010 when sixteen years old, and when unable to post bail, imprisoned for three years in extremely violent conditions at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Riker’s Island while awaiting trial.   [Read more…]

Kavanaugh Confirmation: White House Whitewashed FBI Report Gives Cover to Swing Republican Senators

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News reports from this morning indicate that Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation is now very likely because the whitewashed FBI report is giving cover to swing Republican Senators. This despite the failure of FBI investigators to interview neither Christine Blasey Ford nor Kavanaugh and nor at least 40 other witnesses who could give corroboration to Ford’s sexual assault allegations.

The newly-released 46 page FBI report is being called “incomplete” by Democrats and the White House is being blamed for restricting the scope and breadth of investigators. Reportedly, 10 people were contacted and only 9 interviewed by agents. That’s 9 people in the 5 day period (less than 2 a day – wow!). Also, the third woman to come forward, Julie Swetnick, was not contacted by the FBI. Also the second accuser Debra Ramirez gave agents a list of 20 people who come corroborate her accusations against Kavanaugh. None – again, none of them were contacted.

The report is also being called “a sham”, “a whitewash” by critics. Yet, this morning swing GOP senators Susan Collins and Jeff Flake stated it was enough for them. Which means it’s very likely they’ll vote to confirm.   [Read more…]

2018’s Bottom of the Political Barrel: Three Candidates You Should Avoid Voting For

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Mail-by-vote ballots will be arriving at homes in California next week and, after posting more than three dozen articles about candidates and issue since the June primary, it’s time to wrap up this phase of our election coverage.  There were lots of contests I wanted to cover, but couldn’t for lack of time.

My parting shot in this series involves a short-but-sweet essay warning folks about some people NOT to vote for. There are people running for office who you shouldn’t vote for, and then there are candidates are so bad you should consider crossing the street to avoid them if you see them coming your way.

On Monday, we’ll be posting the San Diego Free Press Progressive Voter Guide. The editorial board met last week to consider endorsements; those will be announced in the Guide. We endorsed 14 ballot measures and 37 candidates. Three candidates were so bad they deserved special mention.   [Read more…]

Poli-trick-ians Like Summer Stephan and Myrtle Cole Have Got to Go

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Nothing that these Establishment politicians (Republican and Democrat alike) do surprise me anymore, but it still disgusts me. I pray we learn our lesson from June’s election.

Remember when then-candidate, Summer Stephan suggested to the Union-Tribune she was a reformer? Remember when she told voters that she believed law enforcement officers were not above the law? Remember when she said she cared deeply for victims and victims’ families?

All lies. Since being in that seat, she’s cleared every officer involved in the shootings and deaths of San Diegans. Most recently, on September 21, she cleared every officer involved in the death of Earl McNeil although the Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide.   [Read more…]

Republicans Harkey and Hunter Run on Pity Platform | San Diego’s Congressional Contests

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Three of San Diego’s five Congressional districts are, for now, dominated by Democratic incumbents. Electoral contests in the 51st (Vargas), 52nd (Peters), and 53rd (Davis) all include no-name, no-cash–Republican challengers.

Today I’ll focus on the noisy political contests in the 49th and 50th congressional districts, with a cursory listing of the candidates for the non-competitive seats at the end of the column.

The current version of history says the 49th’s retiring Republican Congressman Darrell Issa saw the handwriting on the wall following a surprisingly close election in 2018 and regular protests outside his Vista office.

While I’m sure both things played a role, a personal drama may have played a role in that decision.   [Read more…]

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